So Much Talk of Food: Received from Canada, China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, & the U.K.

Look at these two cool mailbox-shaped cards from my postcard pal in Tokyo, Japan! Since I am perpetually behind in logging my cards, or course these two were received 6 months apart! I swear some of today’s post will be recently-received cards. I don’t know for sure, but I’ll swear it, anyhow. These are the times in which we live.

Okay, I received this tray of XLB not so long ago. This is a really substantial, thick, plasticized card, and I love it. I love XLB. It’s a direct swap with a Postcrosser in Taiwan, and the printing on the card reads:

Taiwan mini steamed dumplings, a snack originally from Shanghai, has been improved upon and is known internationally. Their wrapper is famed for its tender, smoother, and somewhat translucent, rather than being white and fluffy.

The postcard’s sender adds still more detail:

Mini steamed dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) is one of the most famous food in Taiwan. DIN TAI FUNG is the most famous chain stores and I think it has also some stores in California! Have you tried it before? 

Yes, I have.

More food I love, Dan Tat! It’s a regular Postcrossing card from Hong Kong, and the sender says that egg tarts are her favorite snack, and…

Have you ever tried it when you were eating around in HK? Apart from egg tart, fish ball, and siu mai (pork/fish dumpling) are also popular street food here.

Okay, here comes some food I’m less excited about. This is partly because the brand is not a great one, and anything you can make that color is not actual chocolate. I do love food package postcards, though! I received it in just such a trade, from a sender in Japan who tells me:

My boss gave me Hawaiian Host chocolate. He bought the chocolate in Hawaii. I’d like to visit Hawaii someday.

More food-related fun from Japan, from a sender in Tokyo who tells me that when she was writing to me (back in January), the city was having its first heavy snow in 4 years, and she’d already seen 2 traffic accidents that day. To be honest, when it comes to snow, I’d like to visit Hawaii. And not the high elevations where there is actually snow.

If you thought you’d seen the last of postcards & food from Taiwan in this post… well, you were mistaken. The scan, unfortunately, fails to accurately portray the golden undertones & sparkly nature of this card–a card I would call “delicious,” if not for the cat stuck amidst the noodles.

My second regular Postcrossing card this time is also my 2nd steamer basket of deliciousness, this time from China. Making this post is making me really–did you think I’m about to say hungry? FULL, actually! This sender tells me she loves “K-pop, music, plants, etc.”

I wonder if she loves seals. I do! Third regular Postcrossing card is from Germany. We may have moved on to animals here, but the sender is still talking about food!

I’m also a big lover of the Asian food, especially Thai, as I love the spices there. In August we’ll travel to Thailand again, and I’m looking forward to all those delicious meals!      

This beautiful swimming seal came to me from Canada, from a sender who tells me she visited The Aquarium of Niagara in New York at the end of last year, and that the seals “have a nice rocky outdoor exhibit. They seemed to love the cold!”

Squirrels! I love watching squirrels. It’s fun to turn this card sideways, to make it look like the little guy is sitting at a table, giving us an odd look. Nah: he’s giving us an odd look while peering around a tree. This is a regular Postcrossing incoming from Germany, from a sender who tells me that like me:

I also like to eat Asian food, I have often eaten Thai food in Thailand and Indian food in India, what an explosion of different tastes!

The Beatrix Potter squirrels came to me in a Postcrossing Forum tag for cards bearing children’s book illustrations, and it’s from someone in the U.K.:

As a Hongkonger living overseas, its always very fascinating to hear foreigners talking about Hong Kong and other east Asian countries. As you live so close to San Francisco, I think you can eat a lot of authentic Chinese food! BTW SF is my favorite city in the USA!”

Okay, now what–oh, an otter! I love sea otters. This arrived from Japan in a Postcrossing Forum marine life tag, and I hope you are braced for more food talk:

I was living in Santa Clara until August 2017. I used to eat around in Bay Area. Especially I love “Beyond Thai” in Fremont and “Madras Cafe” in Sunnyvale. Ah… I wanna go back there… What is your favorite restaurant? Enjoy your meal!

Last card, the seagull, is from a Postcrosser in Murmansk, Russia. She tells me she is in the far northern part of Russia:

There is very, very cold all year and a lot of snow. =)

Okay… time for stamps, stickers, and washi tape!Some great stuff down here.

22 Postcards, and Most of them Headed to Japan: Sent to China, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Spain, Taiwan, & the USA

Have you ever sent someone the exact same card twice? I have.

It wasn’t until I’d fully addressed, stamped & decorated this evil queen card, that I’d suddenly realized I’d sent the person the same card–perhaps only a week before. This is part of a Postcrossing Forum Disney card tag, by the way, to a recipient in Shanghai, China. You can see the previous (same) card I sent her, by the way, in my recent post before this one.

The good news in realize what I’d done before I’d written the message was that I could start with an apology. Also, I promised to send her a different Disney card in a couple of days–which I did. Hence the Mickey dots here.

Another copy of the same card went to a different Postcrosser in Shanghai, in a “you choose” tag. He chose.

Coit Tower went off to České Budějovice, Czech Republic, to a recipient requesting postcards with famous places & cities in the U.S. When I worked in S.F., I used to frequently climb the hundreds of steps to get to this monument. The edifice itself wasn’t the goal–it was the beautiful, lush private gardens all the way up–a real escape from the dingy city.

Frisco’s Chinatown when to Taoyuan, Taiwan, in a “see my favorites & surprise me” tag. This recipient seems to like a lot of stylized, touristy cards.

The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas went to Renkum, Netherlands. That Postcrosser said she liked cards with “special buildings,” and this gateway out in the middle of nowhere leads to a really great Chinese vegetarian restaurant! So special, it’s worth the very long drive from anywhere. Okay, so there may or may not be a better one or two near me, but the remoteness, and authentic spirit–I mean, there are peacocks and deer on the grounds–make it pretty precious.

Bigfoot went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to someone originally from England who said he liked anything cute/weird/scary.

It’s REALLY good, sometimes, to be able to say a lot about the image on a postcard. For instance, when a Postcrosser gives you nothing to say to them personally:

“Hallo, I am looking for nice cards, as collecting postcards is one of my favourite hobbies. Preferring cards showing towns, castles, bridges or buildings, I also like cards of train stations or unusual tourist cards …. Thanks a lot and have fun”

I mean, what could I write to relate? “Hallo, I, too, am in this just for the postcards, and not the interactive element of the pastime! I enjoyed learning nothing about you from your non-profile!”

So I did find a “castle” postcard, and wrote about how what’s even better is the thousands of elephant seals down on the beach. I sent the card off to Gundremmingen, Germany.

I have nothing to say about pineapple-ring guy, which was requested in a tag by a Postcrosser in Köln, Germany, so I think I wrote something about my weekend. I really need to consistently photograph the backs of my outgoing cards.

Next we’ve got a couple of cards for coloring, sold by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The first card depicts the museum itself; I don’t recognize the bridge in the second card, but it’s the flowers I like. The cards go to postcard pals in Hawaii and Japan.

Mushu from Mulan goes to Crewkerne, Somerset, England, in a regular Postcrossing draw. The recipient is a young French person teaching her language at a prep school, and she likes Disney, sushi, and turtles. Based on that information, I’m sure you will be able to identify the card’s backside below.

This California map was requested by a new Postcrosser in Taipei, Taiwan, outside of any assignment or trade. She had seen me post my stash in an “offers” thread, saw one she liked, then taken a look at my favorites & discovered she had a couple of them. This card is on its way, and I am trusting there is one from her heading my way, too!

The next postcard is cut from a food package, and it’s off to Osaka, Japan! Hodo Soy is based in Hayward, California (in the SF Bay Area), and is sold in local Asian supermarkets. I’ve had the tofu veggie burgers a couple of times, and really enjoyed them.

It’s a good thing Franklin & Linus are getting along, because they’ve got a long trip ahead: off they go to Kobeshi, Hyogoken, Japan.

Thanks to a USPS catalog I got in the mail, I learned that they are selling books of postcards to go with their Disney Villains stamps! Yes, I snapped some right up. Here goes the first round: Maleficent to Tokyo, Japan; Snow White’s Mommy Dearest to Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; and Cap’n Hook to Tomiya, Miyagi, Japan.

Okay, that all might’ve been a bit too exciting, so I’ll bring down the room a bit before moving on to part two of the post. These last two cards are regular Postcrossing draws, and are going to Barcelona, Spain; and Climbach, France.

Okay, time for the backsides! Stamps, stickers, & washi tape. See if you can spot Snoopy looking rather guilty.

 

SCUBA Chuck: Sent to Belgium, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, & Taiwan

TWENTY outgoing cards in this post! This all happened over the course of a few weeks.

Several more Postcrossing Forum tags heading out. Charlie Brown & Woodstock are heading for Shanghai, China. If you poke around the Santa Rosa area, you will find many Peanuts statues, decorated by local artists in many different styles. My favorite of the few I’ve spotted stands outside a seafood restaurant in a coastal area: it’s Charlie Brown in SCUBA gear.

The food package is going to Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. I don’t remember much about the cookies, but it says “crisp and buttery,” so therefore I know I loved them.

From Guangzhou, Guangdong, we go to Guiyang, GuiZhou, China— that’s where this big “Let’s Go with Lucy” card is headed. A card as large as this leaves a large canvas for stickers & washi tape, as well as plenty of room for a message. I’ve obscured the message, but you can see the stamps, stickers, & washi tape below.

Lucy pounding sand went off to Hirai, Wakayama, Japan; and Linus the door-to-door salesman to Tsushima, Aichi, Japan.

I chose Charlie Brown for a recipient in Tokyo, Japan. The evil queen went to Shanghai, China, and the beautiful sea otter was destined for Eutin, Germany.

“California is So Cool.” When I made a Disneyland trip not so long back, I tried to find postcards in the park, but failed. This I bought at a convenience store across the street, and now it goes out to Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan in a Disney cards tag.

“California Has Everything.” Now we are clearly bragging. This one is heading for Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan, in a “what I’m reading now” tag. I’m reading The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead.

Completing the California trilogy is the California Coast Highway 1 postcard, careening off to Hong Kong.

Another California card? Yes, this view of Point Lobos goes via a rare Postcrossing draw, to a recipient in Gnesta, Sweden, who expressed a preference for cards showing places–and Point Lobos is a great place!

A second Postcrossing draw; this one goes to Dirgenheim, Germany. Sad to say, this lovely series of national park postcards neglects to mention the state where each park is located. This despite a long passage of text on the back so expansive that it leaves room for only a single stamp! The designer really does not understand the postally-obsessed. Not to mention that the postmark will more that likely obscure all of that printed prose.

Another one of the national park cards: okay, this one does mention on the back that Acadia National Park is on the Maine coast. This one is a regular Postcrossing draw, and goes to Lahti, Finland. The recipient requested that people not use stickers or washi tape on her cards, so I won’t bother to flip this one over for you.

Scuttle and his dinglehopper are going to Kuwana, Mie, Japan, in a Disney cards tag. Ursula is on the back of the card (proof below).

Now several more regular Postcrossing draws: not something I do so often any more, but I am just in the mood to send out more cards (and by extension, receive more). The California Natural Wonders card was actually in the “favorites” of the person to receive it; she lives in Zoetermer, Netherlands.

The lemurs are going to a paleontologist in Omsk, Russia. She wanted illustrations of animals, so here she goes!

The map card goes to a map card lover in Taipei, Taiwan; and the bridge card goes to Dendermonde, Belgium, to a lover of touristy cards.

Lucy and Schroeder are going to a Peanuts lover in Espanola, Ontario, Canada. Unlike the recipient in Finland, this person loves a decorated card, so I did my best on the backside.

Time for stamps, stickers, & stuff. I love these brand-new Bioluminescent Life stamps from the USPS!

My Favorite is the Fruity Stamp from Malaysia: Received from China, England, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, & the U.S.

I have learned what a “Maximum Card” is! Well, at least if the sender of this stamp-on-a-matching-card (received via Postcrossing from China) is to be believed. The college student writes:

“The picture of the postcard is Chinese New’s famous painter, art educator Liu Haisu. Hope you enjoy this Maximum Card!”

That card with the something-or-the-other with the diamond-shaped hole… well, it came by way from Indonesia via Postcard United, and the sender wrote little more than “Greetings from Indonesia”–but fortunately, the words “Borobudur, Jawa Tengah” were printed on the front, and when I asked Jeeves, he told me this:

Borobudur, or Barabudur is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, and the world’s largest Buddhist temple. The temple consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome. It is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. The monument is the single most visited tourist attraction in Indonesia. The high volume of visitors ascending the Borobudur’s narrow stairs has caused a severe wear out on the stone of the stairs, eroding the stones surface and made them thinner and smoother.

Sounds like tourist heck!

The orangey building painting is from Taiwan, via Postcard United:

I’m sending you a card image of an UNESCO site in which I like to visit one day–“Toulou,” an unique historical architecture albeit structure that exists in southeastern China. Such structure is aparments alike as its interior has many households. Toulou comes in square, rectangular, circular and oval like architecture. Toulou in Chinese means “soil floors.”

I’m so confused; I looked up “Toulou China UNESCO” online, & none of the photos seems to resemble this postczrd image.

From India, via Postcard United, I received the hilltop-castley-forty-looking “General View Golconda Fort.” A couple of issue with the card: it’s printed on what’s a lightish-medium-weight magazine cover stock (but I don’t care); and the “caption” printed on the other side covers all of the writable space, leaving the sender to squeeze a greeting & signature into the corners (and I do care). But it’s always nice to receive a card from India.

The white gate with pigeons came from Taiwan via Postcard United, and there’s not much of a message, but lovely stamps, and a very special dog postmark that the sender writes was only available on the day she sent the card. Wow, other countries sure to have special mail/postcard cultures!

That scene from the Thames came from London via Postcrossing, and the sender says:

“This time of the year it’s almost always cloudy outside, but since it’s a big city you can always find somewhere indoor forgetting about the weather!”

Do you think the books below were purchased soley for their uniform spines? The card came to me from somewhere in the U.S. via swap-bot–and you need to scroll down & see the very old stamps the sender used. She writes:

“I only have a handful of old books, probably oldest is from 1880s. I stared reading it and it was boring, LOL.”

I’m not sure what’s going on in that dark painting that looks like a child’s hand holding a wooden horse’s head. Creepy. It’s from Russia, and the decorations on the back–all snacks & Starbucks–lighten the mood considerably. It came my way in a Postcrossing Forum “last movie I’ve seen tag,” and if you look for the stickers I mentioned below, you’ll be able to read about her last movie seen.

That snowy scene is from Takamatsu City, Japan, and the sender sets the scene:
“This garden was constructed by the feudal lords in 16th to 17th century. It’s open to the public now, one of my favorite sites to visit. This card shows a snowy view, however, it hardly snows here. Good photo, I think.”

I’d love to see it green & springy!

We’ll transition over to the stamps by way of this stamp-themed postcard from Malaysia. Much more pleasing are the real-life stamps used to mail the card. Malaysian stamps never disappoint! I love the center of the three used, laden as it is with jackfruit, durian, mangosteen, and rambutan!

Animal & Food Edition: Received from China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, & the U.S.

I love these two little seals! They came to me from Germany via Postcrossing Forum, and the sender writes:

“I saw some cards like this at your favorites so I decide to send you this one. The word ‘wasserratten’ means ‘water rats,’ we also call people who loves to swim this way.”

The meerkats came from a sender in Italy who seems to have confused them for another animal:

“A few years ago, I visited, together with some friends, a zoo safari not far from my home. The first animal I saw was a lemur, standing on the top of his lair, who watched us curious.”

The wonderful pandas come from Fuzhou, China, but it’s food the sender has in mind:

“In Fuzhou, my favorite snack is called meat yan. Unlike other kinds of wontons, the wrapper of it is made of minced meat and sweet potato flour. I tastes so good that you should try it some day!”

This offers the perfect transition into the food postcard version of my post. The sweet postcard below if from my friend Cindi in Hawaii, and it shows hula pie. Even better is the Snoopily-decorated back of the card, which appears toward the bottom of this post.

The table laden with Indian delicacies comes from Chennai, India, via Postcard United. The sender writes:

Greetings from Chennai, one of the major cities in India. Here we speak Tamil, one of the longest surviving languages in the world. I am sending you a card that features some of the famous food in India.

Don’t miss the beautiful, huge stamp that was on the back of this card, featuring a scene from the Ramayana!

That mapo tofu sung to me so loudly that I went out & ordered it one night, and ate a homemade version the next! It came to me from Japan via a Postcrossing Forum food package postcard tag. The sender writes:

“This is a package of ‘mapo tofu.’ Do you know it? Its taste is spicy and hot. I like it.”

Next comes the soup, and it’s from Hong Kong:

“Hope you like my own postcard. Noodle soup is Asian staple food.”

The last postcard came to me from Germany from the regular Postcrossing, and the sender tells me:

“I’m sending you this card depicting the specialty of my region: Schäufele. It’s the shoulder part of the pork and the meat on the bone. Has to be very tender but it has a crispy crust. Yum!”

Okay, stamp time! In the first row, don’t miss Hong Kong’s Kitchenware Street! I’ll have to check it out next time I am there.

Lots of Puffy Fish Stickers: Sent to Canada, China, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, & the U.S.

This post is full of postcards–jam-packed with them, along with their accompanying stamps, stickers, and washi tape. What it lacks is full detail–but who cares, am I right?

We start off here with a couple of regular Postcrossing sends, and a couple of Postcrossing Forum sends: this set goes out to Zhengzhou, Henen, China; Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; Potsdam, Germany; and Saint Petersburg, Russia.

I visited the Charles M. Schulz Museum this month & reloaded on my Peanuts postcard stock. Mostly more copies of old stuff, but they did have one great new postcard to go with their new temporary exhibit celebrating the character Franklin. Three of these have gone out in the mail recently: two to Japan, & one to Hawaii.

These Postcrossing Forum sends are going to Ampang, Selangor, Malaysia; and Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.

One good elk leads to another…

A food package and a movie postcard follow. I’ve had a lot of this drink; never seen the movie.

Flying squirrels & durian–this card went to Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, in a Postcrossing Forum “Last Movie I’ve Seen” tag. That movie: Black Panther. The best of the Marvel heroes movies!

Heavens help me, I’m dipping into swap-bot again. For this trade, I had to send a Disney postcard to 5 different people (4 in the U.S.; 1 in Ireland). A couple of these cards came from the Art of Disney: The Renaissance and Beyond box set, and the rest came from the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, which I visited for the first time recently-ish.

Stamps, stickers, and washi tape time. Do you have any favorites? I do!

Of Local Connections, Banana Stickers, & “Lifestyle Bloggers:” Received from China, Japan, Russia, Serbia, Spain, & the U.S.

This beautiful flower postcard was sent to me from Japan, and it wasn’t originally meant as a postcard! The sender explains:

This card is famous souvenir cookie’s box from Hokkaido–the northernmost prefecture in Japan.

The onions are an actual postcard, rather than from a box of souvenir onions or something. The card was sent to me from Kaluga, Russia, by a sender who writes that her town is not far from Moscow, and:

We are proud of Cosmonautics State Museum. I love art, puzzles, psychology.

The child-on-cattle card came from China, and the sender explains:

This kind of painting is called shuimo, an old traditional kind. There’s a kid riding on the back of a cattle, farm cattle. Guess you know the importance of cattles to ancient Chinese people. Also, there’s a poem written in ancient Chinese characters. The poem dated from 2500 years ago.

The Indian Court card came to me from Wisconsin via Postcard United–Postcard United does that thing, pairing a person with someone from their own country. It also does stuff like this:

That is correct: as of the moment I am writing this, I have received 36 more postcards than I have mailed out. This embarrassment of riches points out the fact that other people out there are getting screwed over.

One more thing of note about that card: the man who sent it decorated it with a couple of banana stickers. Scroll down, you’ll see.

This sketchy little village is also from the U.S., but via a swap-bot trade. The sender, who lives somewhere near San Diego, is just the first person in this post who spent some time living not far from me:

Hello! I grew up in Hayward, lived there until I was 20. Not too far from you. 🙂

The Japan card came from somewhere in–guess what country–via Postcard United. The sender tells me she, too, lived quite close to me for a time:

I spent a year in Oakland, CA as an exchange students & almost every weekend I visited S.F by myself. It was about 30 years ago (!!) But still I ❤ Bay Area and I’m so happy to write to you. My host mother used to work your place as a teacher.

Speaking of true callings, and professions of high purpose & service to humanity, this next card came to me from a self-professed “full-time lifestyle blogger.”

She lives in Belgrade, Serbia, and took time out from her busy schedule to tell me about the card:

You can see “the face” of the Statue of Victory, one of the most known sights in Belgrade. It’s the symbol of our city. You can Google it and see what it looks like in nature. Hope this will help you find out more about our country.

The card next to the last one looks like death, and it was sent to me from Spain, in a Postcrossing Forum “last movie I’ve seen” thread. She tells me about “My Life as a Zucchini:”

…a French animation film for adults that is just one hour long but the impression it makes lasts for a lifetime. I was deeply moved by it and cried buckets. So if you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

I want to see “Coco,” but I’m not sure if they’ve removed the 21 offensive opening minutes I keep hearing so much about. I would have to adjust my arrival time.

This headphone-wearing letter C is from a Postcrosser in Xinyu, Jiangxi, China. He had a standard message translated into English and printed on a rubber stamp, as you’ll see toward the bottom of this post.

I end with the “NORMAL” postcard, which I may or may not have shared many moons ago–but it’s not marked as having been logged, so there we have it. This was received from Bonnie Jeanne

This was from Bonnie Jeanne of Postally Yours, who had an “orphaned postcard project” in which she logged the postcards in her personal collection, and people like me would “claim” a card to which they had a personal connection (a place they were from, a favorite place to visit, etc.). She would send us the card in an envelope, and we would write on it, about the card/place, and send it back to her. Her website would share those stories. I participated twice, and really had fun with it. It seems she has moved on to other things. I wish her all the best.

Stamps & stamps & stickers follow. I especially loved this one stamp from Japan, so I made sure to show an enlargement (for my own enjoyment, if for no one else’s).

The Comic Section! Received from Belarus, Japan, Malaysia, Switzerland, & the U.S.

One of the upsides of being so horribly behind in cataloging my received postcards is that I am at least able to go through the accumulated cards (well, the ones that I can currently find) and do some grouping by theme. This time, it’s some toon-tastic cards, received through all of my current avenues: Postcrossing, Postcrossing Forum, Postcard United, swap-bot, and postcard pals!

First up: B. Kliban! I’m always thrilled to find Kliban Cats in my mail. They surrounded me when I grew up: they were marketed on t-shirts, bed sheets, soap dispensers, calendars, and on & on. The world today could use more Kliban cats. This came to me from a Postcrosser in Cedar Hill, Texas, who saw cards like this one in my favorites.

 

Every time I look at this image, I notice a new detail.

This Snoopy postcard looks like a piece of original art! The Postcrosser who sent it to me tells me she bought it during a visit to the Snoopy Museum in Tokyo, Japan.

I love, love, love, the style of very-early-era Peanuts art. I was thrilled to get this Lucy (my spirit animal) card from my post pal Cindi in Hawaii. Be sure to scroll down for the stickers, washi tape–and a great Disney Queen of Hearts stamp! And while you’re down there, do be sure to spend time with all of the other stamps, stickers, & washi tape. This is a good post for both sides of the cards I’ve received!

Time to move from Peanuts to Totoro. This wonderful scene came to me from a Postcrosser in Astoria, Oregon, who writes:

I am also a huge fan of Asian cuisine. We lived in Singapore for two years–yum! Ate in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Australia So much good food–love the crosss-cultural stuff. And lucky now to live on the West Coast–foodie heaven. Food carts are boss. Last weekend ate at a place called DJ’s Vinyl Vegan–it was fabulous. It was part of our weekend eat-fest in Astoria. Also had Scandinavian food at the Midsummer Festival. This weekend too hot to go out. Hope you are getting some good eats!

The other Totoro card came to me from Malaysia via Postcard United, from a sender who tells me that ol’ Totes is their favorite cartoon character.

Next up: a pair of Finding Nemo cards. Let me interrupt myself to say that I was at Disney California Adventure last week, and after many visits having ignored the attraction, I finally went to “Turtle Talk with Crush,” and let me tell you–I am never going to skip over it again! Hilarious! Reminded me of a Paula Poundstone performance (and I’ve been to many).

Okay, the cards. The first of them came to me via regular Postcrossing, from Minsk, Belarus, with the following message:

I am a senior student at Linguistic University where I study the English and French languages and American and British Country Studies. I like traveling, reading books, and birds. I have a monk parakeet (Rudy). He can talk.

The other Nemo card came to me from St. Paul, Minnesota, via a swap-bot “Currently Reading” trade. The sender had a few books going at once, and she listed them for me:

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, by Theodora Goss

Enigma: the Battle for the Code, by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore

Blind Ambition: The White House Years, by John Dean

Okay, the last 3 are Sanrio: Hello Kitty Country! I sometimes enter Postcrossing Forum tags where every other person is to receive a Hello Kitty card. Since I do not have any to send, I enter on the receiving rounds…and then promptly say that I’d really love to receive Badtz-Maru (or any one of several other ancillary characters). This first card, sent from somewhere in Japan, stars Badtz!

The big Hello Kitty card came from Lausanne, Switzerland, and the smaller one made its way from Nakatsu, Ōita, Japan.

Hey, we made it through! now enjoy the stamps, stickers, washi tape, and a few of the messages. Let me know what you liked! I feel really accomplished right now, to have logged 10 more of my back postcards.

Recycling Day! Received from Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Indonesia, & Malaysia

This time it’s all about postcards hand-hewn from food & other packaging, and received through trades on Postcrossing Forum and swap-bot. I love them! Sometimes at the supermarket, I’ll see a box of cereal or cookies, and all I can think about is: that’ll make a great postcard. And sometimes, that is the product’s absolute best function!

This wide-eyed panda came from Great Britain, and the sender tells me it is from a “Buttons ice cream box.”

The chocolatey bar came from Dresden, Germany:

I decided to send a card made out of a package of muesli bars to you. I sometimes eat muesli bars as a snack during long days at university. This sort is just granola with chocolate & honey. I prefer them them with additional cocoa flakes though.

Next up, from Malaysia, a very appealing former package. I love mango, but not the dried kind, which, despite the very fresh-looking photos on the box, is exactly what this product is:

It was bought by my mum when she visited Penang (a tourist attraction in Malaysia).

The Tikka Masala box is from the same region–Indonesia this time–and the sender writes:

I’m sending you this instant Tikka Masala spice mix, whereby all you have to do is dump in this mix, some chicken & potatoes, and voila, dinner is served!

The “Carneval” is from Finland, and the sender tells me it is a cookie:

‘Keksejä’ is cookies in Finnish, ‘Kex’ is in Swedish. They are popular with children. I like them because they are quite cheap and there’s lot of them in the package. 🙂

I can’t get so excited about the final postcard: a cigarette box. Well, at least something good came out of that whole enterprise. This is from Greece, and the sender writes:

We sell cigarettes in our shop. These superslims came out a few years ago. People can buy a carton or 1 pack. In England they have 10 or 20 in a pack. We have only 20’s. Wish you health, happiness & faith…

‘K.

Onward & upward: it’s stamp & sticker time! These Indonesian stamps got canceled to within an inch of their lives.

Malaysian stamps make my day.

So Hard to Keep Track, Though: Sent to China, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Taiwan, & Thailand

Lots of cards to show off this time: more than I can actually keep track of, as you’ll see. Mostly Postcrossing Forum tags, with a couple of Postcard United sends. Please let me know what you like!

I love sea otters! This one goes to Bangkok, Thailand–and I am jealous.

Trinidad, California goes to Lublin, Poland

This beautiful tiger is headed for Hong Kong. Also to Diessen, Netherlands!

The pelicans should land with a brand-new Postcrosser in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Although he is participating in the forum tags, he has yet to upload a profile, which is always a disappointment to me.

California Coast Highway 1 went off to Larissa, Greece, and the Grinch (from the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden in Springfield, Massachusetts) went to Saitama, Japan.

Uhm, I didn’t do a good job keeping records on this next pair, but one is going to New Taipei City, Taiwan. This stuff is hard.

Here we have one off to Sarsborg, Norway. I hope the recipient enjoys this dramatic coastal scene.

Time for stamps, stickers, & washi tape. Do you have any favorites?